No Appetite, No Presence of God

Proverbs 16:20......20 He who heeds the word wisely will find good,
And whoever trusts in the LORD, happy is he. NKJV

Proverbs 19:8.........8 He who gets wisdom loves his own soul;

He who keeps understanding will find good. NKJV

Ever met someone, or worked with someone who had this statement of "I am not happy." Then the "someone" will state why they think they are not happy. It is either due to their job, their spouse, their children, the parent's that raised them or where they live.

But being happy has nothing to do with the other people in our lives or where we live, but has everything to do with our heart issues. We can always go look for "greener grass" but take the some 'ole heart issues with us.

Yes, many chase the proverbial, "greener grass" thing, sometimes by ending up divorced, separated from their offspring, changing jobs and finding more trouble than they believed they could ever possibly get into in their entire life.

We are told in 1 Peter to have one mind, compassion for one another, to be tenderhearted and courteous...........

1 Peter 3:8-12.....8 Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; 9 not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For 

"He who would love life 

And see good days,

Let him refrain his tongue from evil,

And his lips from speaking deceit.  

11 Let him turn away from evil and do good;

Let him seek peace and pursue it.  

12 For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,

And His ears are open to their prayers;

But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil."  NKJV

Imagine the world having one mind. Imagine a world where everyone had compassion for their neighbor and not trying to outdo that neighbor. And you know what I mean! Yeah, let's get that new car, move into that new home, but the old car is barely two years old and the old house is not even ten years old yet.

Yes, it is heart issues and what we think is "happy". It is all that "stuff" from the past that clutters and adds chaos to our thinking.

Imagine people who are tender-hearted toward one another, who will bless you no matter what! He who would love life and see good days is to refrain his tongue from speaking evil of anyone.

No lying here!  No conjuring up a lie to tell someone. You know like when you were in school and the "kid" said, "the dog ate his homework." My dog did not like eating paper. She preferred biscuits and gravy, thank you very much!

But honestly, being happy to me lines up with those beatitudes from the book of Matthew 5:3-12. Every believer should have these as the evidence they are saved and look out for others ........

Matthew 5:3-12..........3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

4 Blessed are those who mourn,

For they shall be comforted. 

5 Blessed are the meek,

For they shall inherit the earth. 

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

For they shall be filled. 

7 Blessed are the merciful,

For they shall obtain mercy. 

8 Blessed are the pure in heart,

For they shall see God. 

9 Blessed are the peacemakers,

For they shall be called sons of God. 

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

11 "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. NKJV

ENCOUNTERS:These are encounters with God. They are those God-kind of things that cause us to look different, sound different and to act different than other people act in similar situations!

Nope, not making God to my image, I am the one who will fear the Lord! I will keep my focus on a  "Big God" and not little me! Whatever the chaos that may be taking on the world, our feet should be established knowing God is bigger and is greater than any major earthquake, bird flu virus, measles, mumps and rubella.

 OUR God wants us to operate in His wisdom and not bury our heads in some sand dune somewhere and "pretend".  (well, let's pretend this is not real)

It is our duty to mourn after God and to lament. For truly we are seeing today what sin does to a nation! We should not be looking for the way out, to run away from that which troubles our world, our nation, and community. Ours is to represent a great God and mourn. When others are looking for a way out, we should be looking for the "doorway in" to helping those who do not know Jesus. The only "happy" found here is looking to God who is our sufficiency. He has given us some very solid promises of what He wants for us if we are willing to go after them.

Today, it seems easy for some to lie, to cast the blame, and gather those who would slander and harm another, but our comfort, peace and life eternal is from the God who expressed His love to us through His Son..............

Hungering for God .......to be saturated with His Word, His Presence, and His glory. Is it not time to see all that come to pass for us?

I always hear people say, "well, you don't have to read the Bible everyday" and I am appalled.

I always think of the fireplace and those pieces of coal that were placed there hours ago and lit to heat a room. I know that when you take one of those lumps of fire-hot coals out, they will burn bright for a few minutes but in less than about 15 minutes they start to turn cold. But inserting the piece of coal back into the fire will cause it to burn brightly again.  So when we insert ourselves into His Word and His way of doing, we become saturated with Who He is.

Then we walk out into the world for a job that may be less than what we expected, a visit to a hospital to see someone who might need prayer and an encouraging word. We can walk out from the Word of God and prayer to call someone to let them know we are thinking about them. We could find something good to say to our children and grand-children or for someone else's grand-children. We become those peacemakers who choose not to lie, not be addicted to lying but on the contrary to make peace. Yes, it is an on-going study to find that place to stay in His peace. Not by my works but truly serving my family and others through a peace that came through Jesus Christ.

Psalm 23:5-6............
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over. 
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD
Forever. NKJV

A hungering for God is coming to the table that He has prepared for us to dine at!  He has prepared it for us, and do we sit at that table or hunger after the table set by the world. Do we hunger for "more fun", "more things for me", "more everything for me" or are we hungering to see the dead raised, the cancer victim carry cancer no more, to see a child healed of leukemia or senior citizen healed of alzheimer's.  For these are all names under the feet of Jesus and if we fill up with Him, then who or what can stand against?

I think of this family who live close by out here in the gorge. I am always reminded of their generous spirit to help foster small children. Most of those small ones come from broken homes and from parents who abuse some kind of substance. Some of these little ones were babies and I saw this couple take these "little ones" into their home to be loved and comforted in their pain. To me, their sacrifice has been to bring peace into these "little ones " lives. Can we do as much?

Closing: we choose to be happy because of the God Who gave so much. We choose this "green grass" here and know God has a life of happiness for us when we follow His lead and dine at His table!

I pray that people everywhere will make Jesus the Shepherd of their lives.

Father, today I think of all those who follow that pigskin and this is their big day today. In watching all that activity and ball throwing, I pray for people not to be taken in by all the ads they see and hear on  T.V. Today I pray for those to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and not follow the voice of the stranger. Lord, when we commit our ways to You, YOU cause our thoughts to become agreeable to YOUR will and our plans will be established and succeed. I pray for all who have opportunity to read this to Know without a DOUBT, that they are of more value than any football game that lasts for four hours. I pray that they would find the table prepared by a good God and has called us to His kingdom of God for such a time as this.

Lord, for those who hunger, saturate them with Your Word and and lead them in paths of righteousness for Your name's sake. It is You that Restores Us! Restore us Lord, and make us into the man and woman You destined us to be and may it be to Your glory. We give You thanks for the good things You have for us and we do not have to chase after them or even after money. You are the Provider Who provides for our every need. Keep watch over Your children Lord and I will watch and pray for them as well. May they rise up IN YOU and SEE THEIR ENEMIES SCATTERED IN JESUS' NAME. Amen.

You can also visit my Youtube channel The Voice of Prayer for more teaching at http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV